Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1887-10-13

constltutionality of the lease law will bt
tested. Another ground OF defense which
will be urged by Mr.. Browning, anC
which If sustained will have o most i'm
portant bearing upon the new land law
is that no actual settler on public lands
prior TO the time the new law went into
effect can be deprived of his prior right
to purchase the land he occupies within
six months alter the land has been CLASH
fed and put upon the market, that nc
lease which may be made Car
affect this right, and that il
cannot be concluded by the exercise OF
the discretionary powers of the LAND
Commissioner.
1t vas stated to THE GAZETTE re.
porter By one of the settlers that he had
it on good authority that before applying
to lease Mr.. Drew, manager of the com
pany, went down to Austin to ascertain
whether in case he leased the land he
could eject the settlers. The inform
ant cf the settler said that being
assured he could do so Mr.. Drew
at once perfected the lease.
Messrs. Jores and Boyd, the repre-
sentatl7es of the settlers who came to
Mobeetie to investigate their rights, have
written the following
LETTER TO GOVERNOR ROSS:
MOBEETIE, TEX, QctOberI6, 1887.
Hor L. S. Ross, Governor, Austin, Tex.
| DEAR SIR-The undersigned desire to
call your attention to the condition OF af-
fairs in Collingsworth county. There are
sboLt thirty families OF actual settlers
located upon school LANDS, principally
upon Eden creek and Salt Fork of Red
river in Collingsworth county, most of
which have snplI bLnches OF cattle num-
bering from ten to 300 head. We have
settled upon these lands in good faith
with the view of Gee dIing homes by ultl-
mate purchase from the state,
and with that intenj have made
permanent and valuable improve
rents, such as houses, wells, fences, etc.
The length Of time Of our settlements
ranges from one to four years. With but
few exceptions ell Of the settlers have
small tracks of lands fenced snd in Guilt
Walton, upon which they have depended
largely TO- sustenance. The lands in
question are within the range of the
Rocking Chair Ranch Company, a corpor-
stion chartered by Great Britain, which
has purchased the private lands slterna-
ting with the school sections. For four
years this company has occupied and had
fenced q tract of 474 sections (3O3, 1850
acres) of which It owned but one-half,
the balance being the property of the
state. During this period it has paid no
rental to the state. A few days ago each
and all of the settlers referred to were
notified by one J John Drew, msnager of
the Rocking Chair Ranch Company, that
| the company had leEsed the entire tract
SO enclosed from the state, and that sill
settlers on it must get out Immediately,
under penalty of q criminal prosecution
! in Travis county We would respectfully
represent to your excellencY that SUCH
lease, il any has been made, was in defiance
of our rights as actual settler S
under the provisions of the law giving US
prior right to purchase; that relying
upon such privilege we did not expect
any disposition of the lands until q CLASH
1cafion by the state, which has not been
made, and that these lands have been
leased without giving Us chance to pro-
tect our rights, our homes and our fami-
lies by purchase or lease. The winter Is
upon US and we have no time to prepare
habitations elsewhere for our familiesto es-
cape it's severity The manager of the CON-
panyIhas given US peremptory orders to get
out at once, stating that he had need for
al the land. We appeal to you, as the
supreme executor of the Law, to protect
US, If possible, in our rights and homes,
which have been invaded without warn
ing, and prevent the sacrifice OF years of
labor, the results of which will otherwise
be confscated to the lessee. Very re-
specially, VIM. JONES,
G. W. BOYD.
| "Nothing could be more deplorable,"
said a conservative citizen Of Mobeetie,
ethan the election of these settlers from
their homes. II the settlers rights are
not to be respected, right in the heart of
the most thickly populated part Of the
Panhandle, and after they have built up
such 8 prosperous colony, and made so
many improvements as these parties,
what can we hope for in the way OF set
| tlement and development? l am no
alarmist, and would not care to under
| take TO
MEASURE THE CONSEQUENCE
of throwing the settlers out of their
houses. Winter is near at hand; they
have nowhere else to go; some of them
| with families would suffer, and suffer
severely. But their own loss would be
as nothing compared to the disastrous
results to this section. What must be
the effect of such thing upon immigra-
ton. The rejection of thirty families
from houses, improved in good faith, by
foreign corporation which isn't even
permitted by our laws to
buy an acre Of land by heavens
sir, it is q greater outrage
thsn ever was committed on Irish peas
antry. IL it is consummated, public in
dignstion will run high, and those who
have provoked it may find it even more
difficult to soothe than they did in 1884"
The Rocking Chair Ranch sCompanY is
the one in which the Earl of Aberdeen,
who recently visited this country, IS in
! terested. It is one eff the wealthiest, il
not the wealthiest aAttle company doing
hssfness in thefsnhandle. ~
& "Breasheg there d an with sasli SO dead WHO
aching head, VIII s Sd Yea sfew
fellows,but they are ofa1ght weight. 49,
Sherman. 81
Special to the Gazette 80